Great Geometry Apps for Teaching Shape and Space

Geometry is the study of shape and space, and can be a tricky mathematical area of mathematical learning for children if they are not easily able to visualise and manipulate the shapes being referred to. The challenge for any teacher is to find resources which bring these concepts to life – in a relevant and fun way – for their students.

Apps offer great interactive resources for you to bring geometry to life in the classroom, making shape and space concepts easier to visualise…and fun to play around with! There are some really super geometry applications that help teaching and learning of key geometry concepts and here are some of the best ones, along with tips on using them with your class:

1) Real Life Shapes: Go for a shape walk around your school or local area to see if how many 2D or 3D shapes your students can spot. Spotting shapes in their everyday environment will help them to see how relevant shapes are to them, in their world. GazziliShapes is a great app (for young children) to sort and define shapes, including in everyday contexts.

2) Perfect Polygons: A great way to reinforce and revise properties of 2D shapes is by playing a game of 2D i-Spy. Give clues to include number of sides, vertices and size of angles. Students can also brush up on properties of 2D shapes with MathGeometry: Fun Learning of Polygons. It’s an app that clearly explains the basics of polygons so that children can develop their geometry skills and learning.

3) Super Solids: Children can sometimes get confused between 2D and 3D shapes. A great way for them to visualise 3D shapes, and understand their properties (including nets) is by using the Shapes – 3D Geometry Learning app. Students can learn and explore 27 different types of three dimensional solids including prisms, pyramids, Platonic solids and solids of revolution. It it easy to navigate and uses simple gesture control to zoom and rotate shapes in any direction.

4) Shapes should be super fun: There are some great game-play apps which reinforce properties of shapes through fun game-play. One of the best is CyberChase Shape Quest!which focuses on understanding of shape and angles. The app consists of three games that each cover different areas of shape and angle and which are suitable for a range of abilities. These begin at quite an easy level but progress to some quite challenging concepts and skills and include an augmented reality game. Great fun!

5) Symmetry…Sorted!: Drawing out shapes in order to practise reflective and rotational symmetry can take so much time. However, now you can simply practise quickly with Symmetry School: Learning Geometry with its moveable shapes. Students can even email the results to you (or a parent) so you can see how they’re doing. It’s great for developing spatial awareness and problem-solving skills.